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Wafaa Bilal

WAFAA BILAL

Indulge Me Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago 1 February–19 October 2025 Chicago
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Press Release

Wafaa Bilal: Indulge Me is the first major survey of internationally renowned artist Wafaa Bilal (b. 1966, Najaf, Iraq; lives in New York, NY). Working in performance, sculpture, and with online and interactive technologies, Bilal’s interdisciplinary practice investigates the dynamic between international and interpersonal politics while highlighting the tension between his home in the United States, which he has deemed the “comfort zone,” and the “conflict zone” of Iraq. The exhibition covers the breadth of Bilal’s versatile career by exploring his performance practice, the use of power in Saddam Hussein’s regime, and Iraqi history and antiquity. It will feature archival displays of his iconic month-long performance Domestic Tension (2007) and year-long performance 3rdi (2010–11), as well as two new works including a sculptural commission for the MCA.

A theme running throughout the exhibition is cultural cannibalism—that is, how culture (in particular the culture of the other) can be used, disassembled, and consumed. Within each of Bilal’s works, one can find metaphorical and literal traces of this idea. Whether through the artist leveraging his own body to interrogate notions of power, or through his use of innovative technologies to rectify acts of cultural destruction, Bilal shows us what it means to consciously engage across cultures while highlighting the negative global implications of consumption, exploitation, and profiteering.

The exhibition is accompanied by a major publication, the first to survey multiple projects by the visionary artist.

Wafaa Bilal: Indulge Me is curated by Bana Kattan, Pamela Alper Associate Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

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About the Artist

Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal, an Associate Arts Professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, is known internationally for his online performative and interactive works provoking dialogue about international politics and internal dynamics. Bilal’s most recent body of work, Canto III, premiered at the New York Armory Show, 2015 and in the 2015 Venice Biennale. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, and Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar amongst others. He holds a BFA from the University of New Mexico and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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About the Gallery

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is one of the world’s largest museums dedicated to contemporary art. Here, the public can experience the work and ideas of living artists and understand the historical, social, and cultural context of the art of our time.

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220 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago
United States
Opening Hours
Wednesday – Sunday, 10am – 5pm
Tuesday, 10am – 9pm
Closed Monday
(1)
Chicago 220 East Chicago Avenue
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago contemporary art institution in Chicago United States
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
220 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, United States
+ 1312 280 2660
http://www.mcachicago.org

Opening hours
Wednesday – Sunday, 10am – 5pm
Tuesday, 10am – 9pm
Closed Monday
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